I went up to the mountain Because you asked me to Up over the clouds To where the sky was blue

This weekend’s theme was running, first with errands then in race form. I had one of the most productive Saturdays here, mostly in preparation for the race. See, when you register for something here, usually they want you to directly deposit the money into their bank account, something that slightly intimidated me. However, I got myself up early and walked myself down to the garden center, a mini mall of sorts, and to my amazement I found the bank I was looking for and a teller that was kind enough to show my sleepy American self how to fill out a deposit slip. Feeling so proud of my accomplishment I treated myself to breakfast at the Blue Cat Café, a place I had been wishing to go to that I always walk by on my way to get groceries. After the best yogurt/ fresh fruit/ muesli and coffee ever I proceeded to go slightly overboard getting groceries for this week. By the time I got back to my apartment at 11:30 I felt very much accomplished.

Today I ran the Constantia Valley Grape Run, aka how far up the mountain can we get them to run in 21k. It was seriously the most intense half marathon of my life. But backtrack to this morning. See, I don’t think I have had so much uncertainty going into an event. Some things that were running through my mind as I drifted off on Saturday night were 1. will the taxi come at 5:30 am like promised? (yes, he actually came 10 min early) 2. will he charge me the rate we agreed on during our phone convo the day before? (even better, he ran the meter and it actually ended up being less) 3. one of my biggest worries, did my registration/ payment get processed? (yes! and they didn’t even ask for proof of payment) 4. how the heck do you use water sachets? ( here they use water bags instead of cups, and after witnessing this in the 5k two weeks ago I was nervous to try. However they are actually loads easier than cups, the u.s. should look into this).

The course was absolutely beautiful; it started on the main road in Constantia and entered one of the most famous wineries in South Africa, Groot Constantia. There we took dirt service roads that wound up and along all of the vineyards all the way up the mountainside. At one point, we were at such a high elevation that I could see the ocean! Racing in S. Africa has made me realize that they do things much differently here in regards to race management. First, they are very polite cheerers. Instead of the earsplitting screams I get in the states, spectators calmly give you a “well done” and “nearly there”. Also, timing is a bit sketch. My last race wasn’t even timed or places recorded. This one I was given a temporary license to pin onto my shorts and at the finish I was given a laminated pouch with my place number on, that you slip your info card into and place on a huge wooden board in the slot corresponding to your place. No chips, no bib rip-offs. Strange. Also, post race refreshment of choice, coke???

Despite a gigantic blister (I’m pretty positive it formed from my foot slipping in my shoe from all the hills/ down hills) I think I held up pretty well for the type of running I have been doing here. I finished 131 out of 1500 runners, and I believe in the top 10-15 of females. The weather was perfect too, nice and cool in the morning with the sun breaking out around 10km. I’m so glad I didn’t give up on this race. The logistics were pretty crazy; I will never take for granted cars and online race registration ever lol. My friend had a great time too. She ran her first 5k with me two weeks ago and today she took 2 mins off her time! Afterward she asked me if I knew of another race in the area we could do before we leave, oh yeah she is hooked.

Things that made me happy today 1. old couple course marshalling blasting classic rock from their car. 2. raffle prizes were cases of wine! so ideal. 3. mini bus we took back to cape town was rocking out to boys II men, beyonce and neyo. 4. getting the running high I have been missing J Yay endorphins!